Api Koroisau ban could rule him out of 2025 season start | Casualty ward

The Wests Tigers will begin 2025 with the wooden spoon but without Api Koroisau after he copped a massive ban, but the news is better for the Roosters with three players escaping suspension.

Raiders star Jordan Rapana suffered a fractured cheekbone in his final game for the club. Picture: Getty Images

The Roosters can breathe a sigh of relief with Angus Crichton, Joseph Suaalii and Siua Wong all escaping suspension ahead of the finals.

However, the Wests Tigers year from hell just gets worse with champion hooker Api Koroisau set to miss the opening month of next season.

Koroisau has been hit with a three match ban with the early guilty plea for a dangerous tackle on Eels fullback Clint Gutherson.

He will miss four matches if he fights the charge at the judiciary and loses.

What could save Koroisau from missing NRL matches is if he’s eligible to count any potential matches for Fiji during the upcoming Pacific Championships.

The NRL match review committee have hit Crichton and Wong with a fine, while Suaalii has escaped any charge for a high shot on Rabbitohs fullback Jye Gray.

Crichton has been fined $1,800 for dangerous contact on Tallis Duncan while Wong has been fined $1,000 for a high tackle on Taane Milne.

Apisai Koroisau of the Tigers is sent to the sin bin by referee Peter Gough for the tackle on Clint Gutherson. Picture: Getty Images

RAPANA’S GRUESOME INJURY REVEALED IN BRUTAL SKULL X-RAYS

- Michael Carayannis

This is the brutal reality of Jordan Rapana’s final moment in the NRL. A fractured eye socket, cheekbone and broken nose.

Rapana’s severe injury during Canberra’s win against the Roosters on Sunday was overshadowed by the high profile injuries to a trio of Roosters plus the confrontation between Trent Robinson and Elliot Whitehead.

However, Rapana’s cruel blow just 11 minutes into the game came just days after he announced he would be leaving the NRL to join Hull FC.

“I actually tried to stay on,” Rapana said. “I’ve had my fair share of headknocks and I didn’t feel like I was concussed. My face was just sore.

“I said to our doctor that I was OK. But his face gave it away when he saw how indented my face was. He told me I had to come from the field.

Raiders star Jordan Rapana suffered a fractured cheekbone in his final game for the club. Credit: Supplied.

“Within 10 to 20 seconds I couldn’t see out of my eye. I’ve said to my missus that the positive is that a few of the Roosters boys had bad injuries that will keep them out for six to nine months. I know it was my last game but it wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the injuries that went on in that game.”

Rapana was taken to the nearby Sydney Eye Hospital in CBD before being discharged by 11pm. He spent the night at a hotel room in the city as his family had travelled from Canberra to watch what they thought would be his second to last NRL game.

“It started to get really sore,” Rapana said. “I had to go to hospital because they were worried about my eye-site.

“They dosed me up and I was away with the fairies. I was lucky I didn’t break my jaw too as it was pretty close to the top part of my jaw. I’ve played long enough and had a lot worse injuries pain wise, a lot worse. It’s just one of those things. On my way to hospital it was probably when I realised that would be my last NRL game.

X-rays show the damage sustained to Rapana’s skull throughout his NRL career. Picture: Supplied

“My missus pointed out to me that my debut game for the Titans was against the Roosters at the SFS in 2008 … and my last game was against the Roosters at the same ground. And we won both. It was a similar feeling in both games where we were written off but we won.”

Rapana played five games for the Titans in his debut year but did not play first grade until 2008. Manly’s Daly Cherry-Evans played his first NRL match in 2011 and will run out for his 327th game on Sunday.

Rapana will finish with 219 games but has packed a lot in between. There was a fractured skull, a Mormon mission, a couple of stints in rugby including in Japan in 2020 where he did not play a game and 16 Tests for New Zealand.

“Even when I talk to my teammates that tell me I’m going OK for a 35-year-old,” Rapana said. “My body isn’t like the usual rugby league player 35-year-old and that’s why I’m still feeling half decent. Covid cut my Japanese rugby stint short. I lived there for three or four months but it was like a holiday.”

Rapana reveals he played both his first and final NRL games against the Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium. Here is Rapana on debut for the Titans.

Rapana, who will have surgery on Tuesday with a four to six week recovery, said the Raiders had offered him a one-year deal but the two-year contract in the Super League was too hard to knock back.

“Sticky (Raiders coach Ricky Stuart) who is not only a coach but a good mate told me that the deal would be on his table all year,” Rapana said. “He said ‘as a mate I want you to find a two-year deal to get some security and life experience’. It wasn’t until last week that I got the two years from Hull FC which was a no-brainer for me.

“I’ve loved every minute of playing at Canberra and this has become our home.”

STORM SENSATION’S FINALS BID CRUELLED BY INJURY

—David Riccio

Storm sensation Sua Fa’alogo has had his finals claims cruelled by a hamstring injury that has ruled him out for up to three weeks.

Scans have confirmed the prodigious talent has suffered a low grade strain of his hamstring following Melbourne’s emphatic victory over the Broncos on Thursday night.

“The hamstring injury means the livewire is likely to be sidelined for 2-3 weeks,’’ a Storm statement read.

Melbourne will welcome back fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen for their qualifying final next weekend after he was rested from the Broncos clash with bone bruising.

Originally published as Api Koroisau ban could rule him out of 2025 season start | Casualty ward